Season 2 Episode 7: Danny Bernard and his Accidental Michigan Big Year

Well, it’s September 1, 2024, the Dog Days of Birding are behind us and fall migration is underway, signalling the end of the summer breeding season and birds booking their flights south for the winter.  Happily for birders, there are no direct flights from the breeding grounds in the north to the wintering grounds in the south, which means we are graced by the presence of southern migrants.  When the wind is just right, shorebirds and seabirds pass through, many of them stopping to refuel at various mudflats. rivers, lakes and ponds, where they fill their bellies with enough food to get them through the next stage of their journey. Some birds, like jaegers and southern migrating gulls, like the Sabine’s, don’t always stop as they pass over the lake.  In that case, birders who want to count such birds as Long-tailed Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger or any other rarity that happens to be blown off course, head to the beaches and cliff edges for the annual lake and sea watches. This is especially important if you’re doing a Big Year. 

In the case of today’s guest, and myself in 2022, we were lake watching on opposite sides of Lake Huron.  Danny Bernard was looking for jaegers and other rarities for his Michigan State Big Year and I was scanning the waters for a Long-tailed Jaeger to complete my jaeger trifecta for my Canada Big Year,(Long-tailed, Parasitic and Pomarine).  Luckily for me, birders like Danny were communicating from the US side whenever they had a sighting and that helped me get to see my only Long-tailed Jaeger of the year.  I should have had them up in The Yukon in the summer, but that’s another story, for another show.  Suffice it to say, we both got our bird and celebrated in style.  Pie for Danny and a steak dinner for me.  Though we didn’t know it, we were destined to cross paths again, this time, instead of across the lake, we met over the internet.  

And as we were talking about alternative Big Years, that got both of us thinking. There are so many ways to do a Big Year.  Who says it has to be a state or county or even start on January 1st?  Well, the record keepers for the ABA area might have a thing or two to say about it, if you want an official title, but what the heck.  If you want your Big Year to start on your birthday, go for it, or perhaps your wedding anniversary.  In that case, be prepared for it to be your last anniversary.  Unless, of course, your spouse is as rabid a Big Year birder as you, in that case, have at it.  More and more, couples or brothers or even best friends are teaming up to do Big Years.  4 eyes and ears are better than two of each, and you get to split the driving and hotels bills.  Which reminds me that a future episode will feature local Brant County birders Ellen and Jerry Horak, who as of this date, are 3/4 of the way through their Ontario Big Year.  In 2023 they did a Brant county Big Year, and  in 2025 will be heading out across the country together to see if they can count over 400 species during their Canada Big Year.  I’ll look forward to hearing how easy or perhaps hard it is to bird everywhere, every day together. 

So, since I need to wrap up this introduction, without further blather from me, let’s log into our Teams meeting and check in with Danny Bernard and his record breaking 2022 Michigan Big Year.